INFORMATIVE, INDEPENDENT AND BOLD

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES JUST NEED A NAME

Bottomline: Most of these new names in the political arena are not even interested in winning ethnic masses, the most conquering tool.

By Lazarus O. Nadebu

A total of eighteen presidential candidates for 2017 General Elections puts presidential candidacy as a platform FOR seeking of fame. Not all the eighteen are really pushed by the pursuit of salvaging this desperate state. Most are just motivated to place themselves at the front of recognition and promoting their status in the state.

They will always emphasize the claim that they are aimed at improving the leadership of Kenya as a nation.

Those expected on the ballot as independent candidates as for now include Joe Nyaga, Nazlin Omar, Michael Wainaina, David Munga, Stephen Oganga, Robert Mukwana, Erastus Nyamera, Nixon Kukubah, Joseph Musyoka, Joseph Ngacha and Japheth Kavinga. Most of their seven counterparts on parties, including the incumbent president and the former prime minister, have been well known before. They include Abduba Dida (Tunza Coalition), Cyrus Jirongo(UDP), Ekuru Aukot (Thirdway Alliance Party) Kennedy Mong’are(Federal Party of Kenya), Uhuru Kenyatta(Jubilee Party) and Raila Amolo Odinga(ODM).

Presidential candidacy has built some the status before. No one had ever heard of Abduba Dida, for example, until his candidature in the 2013 General Elections. On one of recent Tv interviews with Citizen Tv’s Hussein Mohamed, for example, Mohamed Dida (a 2013 presidential candidate) claimed that he had succeeded in what he wanted in 2013 despite the fact that he was 4th in the final results. Dida confidently said the few votes he got were enough for him. For him, it’s worth proud for being able to change what the few votes had believed in before. He went on to unconsciously confirm that what he basically seeks is not always the win, just a change of some, if not all, is the most relevant objective.

All the 18 candidates also believe that the next president will be either that of Jubilee Party or NASA Coalition. Kenyan voting was shaped a long time ago. Despite this fact, candidates have remained adamant in the presidential race. They are probably hoping that Kenyans will change and not vote on geographical basis on August 8.

Professor Kisiang’ani once said that new political aspirants will always choose parties perceived to have dominance of members of their ethnic backgrounds. For him, voters will always be critical in thinking but at the end resume the old monkey role.

Philip Murgor, when withdrawing his candidature from the race, alluded to the fact that Kenyans will always vote in a leader they are related to in a way, not on the basis of rationality.

Most of these new names in the political arena are not even interested in winning ethnic masses, the most conquering tool. They are probably waiting for the presidential debate so that they can sell their ideologies. Perhaps their greatest goal is to win the mass viewership. They are certain that everyone will watch and know them, just like the case of Dida in 2013.